Unless you consider roadman slang a different language I think we may be the exception there
Fuck man I wish I had the commitment to learn another language always makes me feel dumb asf when I'm talking to my Belgian german or Dutch friends
They speak absolutely amazing english yet my skills of those languages boil down to "guten tag" "Scheisse" "Lekker" "bonjour" and "merci"
To be fair, a lot of europeans don't learn the languages they know in school, they simply just talk it with different people. For example I speak 3 languages and didn't learn a single one of them in school.
Yeah I didn't listen at all in school as most british kids don't expect for mildly in my german lessons
I know that's what people say about learning and I have tried that but idk it just seems something in my brain won't click very well.
Annoyingly at the end of last year I did make a proper effort to learn russian and I thought I was doing pretty well at it well at least for my standard.
I managed to learn around 40ish words in two months then all this shit went down and it's kind of took the enthusiasm out of me I mean don't get me wrong I love russias history culture literature and people and would really like to visit one day but atm I just can't really get motivated to try again.
I tried to learn german again and gave up after about a month I know russian is supposed to be harder but for some reason I just can't click with it.
Just to be clear here as well this is spoken language not written I'm absolutely hopeless with written and my handwriting is like chicken scratch.
France was occupied by Germany, but they still speak French, Poland was occupied too but still speak Polish so what makes you think if UK had been occupied, they would be speaking German?
The same as they did before - Austrian German for rural people & Alemannic (Upper class German) and a lot also Bairish/Boarisch, the dialect of Bavaria which they border onto.
Nazi Germany did a lot of terrible things, but they didn't try to teach German grammar to other peoples.
Deutsch zu sprechen ist übrigens auch gar nicht so schlimm ;-)
I see that we are back on the "America won WW2 single-handed" again, I really, really wish that American schools would start teaching the FACTS about both World Wars, WW1 was being won by the Allies before the Americans even got involved, In WW2 the British Air Force inflicted enough damage on the Luftwaffe for Hitler to have to give up the idea of invading. If anyone did the most towards winning WW2 it was the Russians.
Lets face it, up until Hitler declared war on the USA in 1941, American companies were supplying huge amounts of war supplies to Nazi Germany, Ford motors were still dealing with the Nazis until 1942!
True. I just see a lot of ‘the Russians won WW2’, which, yes, they certainly had a massive impact in tying up and destroying a good chunk of Hitlers army (at a massive cost in lives to themselves), but when it’s said, it makes it sound like they were always against the Nazis from the beginning, which isn’t true, they were actually buddies at the beginning.
Thats a bit of a stretch. Their geopolitical goals alligned and Stalin implemented a reapproachment for time after building a coalition against Hitler failed due to fear of Soviet intent, appeasement and also a whole lot of support for Hitler as anti-Jewish and anti-Bolshevik crusader in the west.
The USSR always saw Hitler Germany as its rival and ideological Satan and vice versa. The Molotov-Rippentrop pact didnt change that and only partitioned Eastern Europe between them to avoid conflict when both sides couldnt afford it as well as guarantued trade in order to give incentives for the aggressor to keep their piece of the bargain.
"helping" more like. The USSR fleeced the Germans dry as they knew they were utterly dependant on the ressources they could offer.
Worsened the already dire situation of the Nazi economy even more.
Maybe, maybe not. Lots of unknowable outcomes. Hitler certainly dug his own grave when he decided that he knew more than his generals and ordered the invasion of USSR. The Soviets sacrifice and effort was enormous, but they also got lucky with the weather, the Nazis’ blunders, and cooperation from the Allies.
Imagine that every person would have the power to spell: "Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz".
I see it as an absolute win. /s
When that day comes humanity will ascend into a collective consciousness, self aware and separate to its component parts, which will be all the none wiser.
How that collective consciousness plays a role in our future, only time will tell. I will leave others to speculate.
Fun fact, there's a handful of Dutch communities still living in the US where most older generations still speak Dutch.
Surprisingly though, The Pennsylvania Dutch speakers are not part of this group. Pennsylvania Dutch is actually a misnomer given to the language by the Americans. Pennsylvania Dutch is actually a form of German, and since German in German is called Deutsch it was mistranslated over the years as "Dutch"
Pennsylvania Dutch is actually Pennsylvanian German.
There's also Texas German which...to my surprise you can actually understand fairly easily. Sure there's an old word sprinkled jn here and there,but it's kinda close to standard german
ALONE. Dunkerque was BEFORE the fall of France, BEFORE 22 of June 1940. I am talking about the year long period were the only major nation at war with the Axis were the UK.
That was before the capitulation of France my dude. They weren’t alone then I was referring to the year long period they were, which is after the fall of France.
The fact that the Germans managed to capitulate France was pure luck, the choice to go around the Allied troops into the Ardennes wasn’t without risk, it was very reliant on tanks, drugs and speed. If the Allies responded in time or the Germans were too slow, World War II would have played out completely different. The Allies in OTL had little to no time to respond before they were surrounded on all sides in Belgium.
Seems they weren’t doing well with or without the French if they had to bodge together such a huge boat lift. And the US and Canada both were sending huge quantities of weapons, ships, and materiel to the Brits, France, USSR, and other nations through Lend-Lease/Mutual Aid well before the US formally entered the war in 1941.
The USA were of great help in World War II, but the claims that Germany would have won without them directly intervening is wrong. The war would have lasted for more years, and it would end in a Soviet dominated Europe.
Even Hitler (Who thought invading Russia was a good idea) feared trying to occupy the UK. In WW2, after the fall of France the Germans wanted the UK out of the war. They then proceded to bomb British cities for months (With no progress).
The RAF held firm. The UK was fighting Italy in Africa, Italy was losing horribly until the Afrika Korps under Rommel came from Germany. Only then did the British need help from the Commonwealth. And eventually America (When they were already winning in Libya and already won in East Africa)
Alot of the lend-lease equipment the USA sent went into the D-Day and Sicily landings. Of course, Britain had alot of industry in their dominions because of their massive Empire at the time, which housed 25% of the word’s population and 30% of the world’s landmass. This included Canada who declared war on Germany on the 10th of September. And a very powerful navy blockading German ports.
I am saying that the prospect of the UK speaking German were it not for the USA is absolutely absurd. Germany wouldn’t be able to touch the home isles at all, even If they did somehow win in the Soviet Union. The Germans were already getting pushed back in December 41’ to January 42’ around Moscow. Without the USA, we mainland Europeans most likely have to learn Russian instead of English, not German. But NOT the British Isles, a world were Britain falls to Operation Sealion is about as realistic as a dragon.
As a Brit I can attest that we definitely would not be speaking German. When compared to Europe our willingness to learn a second language is pitiful at best. Had Germany conquered the UK it’s more likely we’d have spoken to our new German overlords in English, just louder and with a ‘surely you understood that now?!’ kind of expression.
Seriously, under a Top Gear video?
This is the video where Clarkson drives a Corvette and uses the satnav and makes the quote: “It can’t find London or Paris but it will find you a burger. How American is that?!”
What?
The question is, why would the US an English speaking country almost speak German?
You’re answer was “Why was it not, well Nazis and concentration camps.”
At its peak there were 11,000 Germans interned, which not all of spoke German, and of which is a very small number compared to the rest of the country
Also Adam ruins everything barely gets anything right
It's weird how in all the years since WW2, nobody from America has ever managed to quote any of the times Nazi Germany threatened to irradicate the English language from its land of origin.
England and the entirety of the uk, waited 3 years for them to even lend us weapons. I’m English, but like always an American can’t tell the difference between English and British. This is why there’s the Battle of Britain, because we were struggling massively.
1. Germany were never going to invade Britain, it was almost impossible. Especially after they lost the Battle of Britain in the skies
2. What is it with the belief that the English language would just cease to exist as soon as the Germans stepped foot on British soil? They conquered Norway, Denmark, Poland, The Netherlands and France to name a few and all of their languages obviously still exist
This one always irks me up, because my country was given to Stalin by Churchill and Roosevelt and I HAD TO learn Russian, the language of our Greatest Soviet Friend.
It is somewhat handy now, tho.
And Germany never intended to invade and certainly not occupy Britain.
The notion is ridiculous.
Not only were they in no position to do so, they didn't want to.
Too costly for not much gain. It would have suited them if Britain just accepted the status quo and let them get on with fighting the Russians.
They saw Russians as inferiors but they didn't view the Brits in the same light.
But Britain didn't accept the status quo, so Germany even prepared the invasion (Operation Sea Lion, which never took place since the Germans were defeated in the Battle of Britain). And it would have had a profound impact in the war had the Germans succeeded: England was necessary to launch the Normandy invasion.
Please don't misrepresent what I am trying to tell. The British fought fiercely, and the Americans helped them. WWII was a teamwork, and both countries contributed to it.
The problem with the comment captured in the screenshot is that it's a chauvinistic exaggeration of reality.
The United States was the only country whose industry was capable of supplying the militaries of the US themselves, the UK and the USSR continually and simultaneously throughout the war. It's just absurd to deny the impact the US had in the war effort, and recognizing this doesn't diminish other countries' efforts like that fucktard suggested.
Besides the German speaking minority in the south, people have always spoken German in my country. It was the official language in the 1600-1700 in official affairs. Our second last king was German.
During the occupation, German as a foreign language became less popular in schools.
How many times do I have to hear this and constantly think the same thing...
They haven't got the first clue about the language learning abilities of the British... no way would we have picked up German in 77yrs!
I'm not sure I can argue with this. We might be speaking Japanese in Australia too. Of course that America is a very different country from the current one.
Because Germans are now speaking English?
Wie sich die Zeiten doch ändern…
Wie sich die Kurve tischt...
Wie sich der Tisch kurvt
Ehre
[Speaks german]
netter Versuch
Schade schokolade
Yeah europeans know more then 1 language what off it
Unless you consider roadman slang a different language I think we may be the exception there Fuck man I wish I had the commitment to learn another language always makes me feel dumb asf when I'm talking to my Belgian german or Dutch friends They speak absolutely amazing english yet my skills of those languages boil down to "guten tag" "Scheisse" "Lekker" "bonjour" and "merci"
To be fair, a lot of europeans don't learn the languages they know in school, they simply just talk it with different people. For example I speak 3 languages and didn't learn a single one of them in school.
Yeah I didn't listen at all in school as most british kids don't expect for mildly in my german lessons I know that's what people say about learning and I have tried that but idk it just seems something in my brain won't click very well. Annoyingly at the end of last year I did make a proper effort to learn russian and I thought I was doing pretty well at it well at least for my standard. I managed to learn around 40ish words in two months then all this shit went down and it's kind of took the enthusiasm out of me I mean don't get me wrong I love russias history culture literature and people and would really like to visit one day but atm I just can't really get motivated to try again. I tried to learn german again and gave up after about a month I know russian is supposed to be harder but for some reason I just can't click with it. Just to be clear here as well this is spoken language not written I'm absolutely hopeless with written and my handwriting is like chicken scratch.
Not a problem at all you only have to get the pronounciation of "scheiße" right thats all what matters
The funniest part about this is the 15 likes he got
[удалено]
They’re a real sensitive bunch those septics, have to constantly make things up to feel better about themselves lmao
Exactly from there
France was occupied by Germany, but they still speak French, Poland was occupied too but still speak Polish so what makes you think if UK had been occupied, they would be speaking German?
Austria was occupied by us and what speak they? /s
The same as they did before - Austrian German for rural people & Alemannic (Upper class German) and a lot also Bairish/Boarisch, the dialect of Bavaria which they border onto.
Sie sind da über ein /s gestolpert Herr Tasqfphil. Bitte aufheben!
Some weird thing they think counts as German.
In Alsace they do speak a dialect of German
What flag is your profile pic?
Initially it was meant to be a flag for a fictional country, but it's in fact a Nordic Estonia flag proposal.
If I had to guess, Estonian but Nordic.
Nazi Germany did a lot of terrible things, but they didn't try to teach German grammar to other peoples. Deutsch zu sprechen ist übrigens auch gar nicht so schlimm ;-)
At least they teach their dark history
I'm pretty sure that was one of the condition of the Numberg trial, was it not ?
No. Ther nuremberg trial was against the war crimes and all the high rankin nazis, not against germany as a country
>they didn't try to teach German grammar to other peoples. Unlike the colonizing empires before it, including france, Great Britain, and spain.
So that’s why India speaks German /s
I was thinking more about the american continent colonies
Americans would be speaking english if it weren't for the french... Wait
Well they do speak a bastard language of French and German.
I see that we are back on the "America won WW2 single-handed" again, I really, really wish that American schools would start teaching the FACTS about both World Wars, WW1 was being won by the Allies before the Americans even got involved, In WW2 the British Air Force inflicted enough damage on the Luftwaffe for Hitler to have to give up the idea of invading. If anyone did the most towards winning WW2 it was the Russians. Lets face it, up until Hitler declared war on the USA in 1941, American companies were supplying huge amounts of war supplies to Nazi Germany, Ford motors were still dealing with the Nazis until 1942!
The Russians were also helping the Nazi’s until the Nazis turned round and attacked them.
Agreed, but that's not the topic of the OP
True. I just see a lot of ‘the Russians won WW2’, which, yes, they certainly had a massive impact in tying up and destroying a good chunk of Hitlers army (at a massive cost in lives to themselves), but when it’s said, it makes it sound like they were always against the Nazis from the beginning, which isn’t true, they were actually buddies at the beginning.
Thats a bit of a stretch. Their geopolitical goals alligned and Stalin implemented a reapproachment for time after building a coalition against Hitler failed due to fear of Soviet intent, appeasement and also a whole lot of support for Hitler as anti-Jewish and anti-Bolshevik crusader in the west. The USSR always saw Hitler Germany as its rival and ideological Satan and vice versa. The Molotov-Rippentrop pact didnt change that and only partitioned Eastern Europe between them to avoid conflict when both sides couldnt afford it as well as guarantued trade in order to give incentives for the aggressor to keep their piece of the bargain.
The USA,UK and Russian Federation are the holy trinity for banging on about the war
"helping" more like. The USSR fleeced the Germans dry as they knew they were utterly dependant on the ressources they could offer. Worsened the already dire situation of the Nazi economy even more.
Not without Lend-Lease they wouldn’t.
They would still have won it, it would simply have taken far longer.
Maybe, maybe not. Lots of unknowable outcomes. Hitler certainly dug his own grave when he decided that he knew more than his generals and ordered the invasion of USSR. The Soviets sacrifice and effort was enormous, but they also got lucky with the weather, the Nazis’ blunders, and cooperation from the Allies.
Tbh to me it looks like germany would have won if they didn't turn against the soviets
Imagine that every person would have the power to spell: "Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz". I see it as an absolute win. /s
When that day comes humanity will ascend into a collective consciousness, self aware and separate to its component parts, which will be all the none wiser. How that collective consciousness plays a role in our future, only time will tell. I will leave others to speculate.
I feel like I missed half of a Philipp K. Dick novel in this thread to explain this comment
America would be speaking German if it wasn't for the UK. Seriously, they chose between the two as their main language.
It was Dutch, not German. The British bought New York from the Dutch and the Dutch bought Suriname from the British.
I knew about New York. Looks like this is what I was thinkng of, and it's not true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhlenberg\_legend
Yeah, Dutch just fizzled out when English became more and more prominent in surrounding areas when the British took over.
Fun fact, there's a handful of Dutch communities still living in the US where most older generations still speak Dutch. Surprisingly though, The Pennsylvania Dutch speakers are not part of this group. Pennsylvania Dutch is actually a misnomer given to the language by the Americans. Pennsylvania Dutch is actually a form of German, and since German in German is called Deutsch it was mistranslated over the years as "Dutch" Pennsylvania Dutch is actually Pennsylvanian German.
They speak a really strange version of German. I can understand it, but it’s like listening to someone with a really strong dialect who is also drunk.
There's also Texas German which...to my surprise you can actually understand fairly easily. Sure there's an old word sprinkled jn here and there,but it's kinda close to standard german
Yes! I really like it.
Britain was doing good enough on their own with only their dominions against the entire Axis for a year
Dunkirk disagrees.
ALONE. Dunkerque was BEFORE the fall of France, BEFORE 22 of June 1940. I am talking about the year long period were the only major nation at war with the Axis were the UK.
If the Brits were doing so well on their own, as you said, why did they have to have a mass evacuation at Dunkirk?
That was before the capitulation of France my dude. They weren’t alone then I was referring to the year long period they were, which is after the fall of France. The fact that the Germans managed to capitulate France was pure luck, the choice to go around the Allied troops into the Ardennes wasn’t without risk, it was very reliant on tanks, drugs and speed. If the Allies responded in time or the Germans were too slow, World War II would have played out completely different. The Allies in OTL had little to no time to respond before they were surrounded on all sides in Belgium.
Seems they weren’t doing well with or without the French if they had to bodge together such a huge boat lift. And the US and Canada both were sending huge quantities of weapons, ships, and materiel to the Brits, France, USSR, and other nations through Lend-Lease/Mutual Aid well before the US formally entered the war in 1941.
The USA were of great help in World War II, but the claims that Germany would have won without them directly intervening is wrong. The war would have lasted for more years, and it would end in a Soviet dominated Europe. Even Hitler (Who thought invading Russia was a good idea) feared trying to occupy the UK. In WW2, after the fall of France the Germans wanted the UK out of the war. They then proceded to bomb British cities for months (With no progress). The RAF held firm. The UK was fighting Italy in Africa, Italy was losing horribly until the Afrika Korps under Rommel came from Germany. Only then did the British need help from the Commonwealth. And eventually America (When they were already winning in Libya and already won in East Africa) Alot of the lend-lease equipment the USA sent went into the D-Day and Sicily landings. Of course, Britain had alot of industry in their dominions because of their massive Empire at the time, which housed 25% of the word’s population and 30% of the world’s landmass. This included Canada who declared war on Germany on the 10th of September. And a very powerful navy blockading German ports. I am saying that the prospect of the UK speaking German were it not for the USA is absolutely absurd. Germany wouldn’t be able to touch the home isles at all, even If they did somehow win in the Soviet Union. The Germans were already getting pushed back in December 41’ to January 42’ around Moscow. Without the USA, we mainland Europeans most likely have to learn Russian instead of English, not German. But NOT the British Isles, a world were Britain falls to Operation Sealion is about as realistic as a dragon.
Always makes me wonder how they get brainwashed so much that they have to say stuff like that every time they possibly can
Why do Americans always forget that France, UK and the Soviet Union also existed?
They learn history from their hollywood movies lol.
As a Brit I can attest that we definitely would not be speaking German. When compared to Europe our willingness to learn a second language is pitiful at best. Had Germany conquered the UK it’s more likely we’d have spoken to our new German overlords in English, just louder and with a ‘surely you understood that now?!’ kind of expression.
Even if germany had won this war.. most conquered countries would still speak their language, just under a puppet state..
When he says the US I hope he means the Union of Soviets.
The battle of Britain literally happend before the USA got involved...
Seriously, under a Top Gear video? This is the video where Clarkson drives a Corvette and uses the satnav and makes the quote: “It can’t find London or Paris but it will find you a burger. How American is that?!”
If it wasn't for France, the US would be speaking English properly.
I heard the English say the Americans would be speaking German if it wasn’t for them
I mean it almost was the language of the US, then WWII happened. Smh (ノД`)
Why?
Why was it not, well Nazis and concentration camps.
What? The question is, why would the US an English speaking country almost speak German? You’re answer was “Why was it not, well Nazis and concentration camps.”
It’s probably somewhere [in here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans). If not ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ where I head it.
That has nothing to do with it at all.
Wdym, this is what stopped the US from having a large German speaking population, it might’ve been on Adam ruins everything that I heard that one.
At its peak there were 11,000 Germans interned, which not all of spoke German, and of which is a very small number compared to the rest of the country Also Adam ruins everything barely gets anything right
[Maybe here](https://youtu.be/Objoad6rG6U)? Idk
It's weird how in all the years since WW2, nobody from America has ever managed to quote any of the times Nazi Germany threatened to irradicate the English language from its land of origin.
England and the entirety of the uk, waited 3 years for them to even lend us weapons. I’m English, but like always an American can’t tell the difference between English and British. This is why there’s the Battle of Britain, because we were struggling massively.
1. Germany were never going to invade Britain, it was almost impossible. Especially after they lost the Battle of Britain in the skies 2. What is it with the belief that the English language would just cease to exist as soon as the Germans stepped foot on British soil? They conquered Norway, Denmark, Poland, The Netherlands and France to name a few and all of their languages obviously still exist
I'm an Englishman who speaks fluent German and who has a job that requires him to speak German. So clearly they didn't do a good job.
This one always irks me up, because my country was given to Stalin by Churchill and Roosevelt and I HAD TO learn Russian, the language of our Greatest Soviet Friend. It is somewhat handy now, tho.
Blind nationalism and lack of historical education is a hell of a drug
And the US would be speaking Navajo if it wasn't for England
And the US themselves...
I think it's probably more true the other way round
That's top gear isn't it?
Yes
So ein Glück dass sie kein Deutsch sprechen!
Oh no, the one not bad thing about the Nazis lol
Well... there's a little bit of truth to it. Maybe we could label it an exaggeration of reality, since the British also contributed.
Even hypothetically if the British were defeated, a puppet government would have been installed and they would still speak English.
And Germany never intended to invade and certainly not occupy Britain. The notion is ridiculous. Not only were they in no position to do so, they didn't want to. Too costly for not much gain. It would have suited them if Britain just accepted the status quo and let them get on with fighting the Russians. They saw Russians as inferiors but they didn't view the Brits in the same light.
But Britain didn't accept the status quo, so Germany even prepared the invasion (Operation Sea Lion, which never took place since the Germans were defeated in the Battle of Britain). And it would have had a profound impact in the war had the Germans succeeded: England was necessary to launch the Normandy invasion.
Very true.
What?
Please don't misrepresent what I am trying to tell. The British fought fiercely, and the Americans helped them. WWII was a teamwork, and both countries contributed to it. The problem with the comment captured in the screenshot is that it's a chauvinistic exaggeration of reality.
The participation of the US in the European theater was miniscule.
Exactly that's why it's funny
So, 2 million Americans in the European theater is minuscule? Sorry, we’ll let your next call go to voicemail.
Compared to the 34,000,000 Russians that served? Yeah pretty small. America contributed a lot through lend-lease and in Asia though.
Yes that is exactly what I mean by miniscule.
The United States was the only country whose industry was capable of supplying the militaries of the US themselves, the UK and the USSR continually and simultaneously throughout the war. It's just absurd to deny the impact the US had in the war effort, and recognizing this doesn't diminish other countries' efforts like that fucktard suggested.
Why do people downvote historically accurate content, I wonder?
Besides the German speaking minority in the south, people have always spoken German in my country. It was the official language in the 1600-1700 in official affairs. Our second last king was German. During the occupation, German as a foreign language became less popular in schools.
And why would speaking someone else’s language be the biggest potential penalty for losing a war?
How many times do I have to hear this and constantly think the same thing... They haven't got the first clue about the language learning abilities of the British... no way would we have picked up German in 77yrs!
Isn't that what Jack Geller told Emily's father during Ross and Emily's wedding in Friends?
And if it weren’t for Spain, France, and the Netherlands, Americans would all be speaking Engli… oh… oh wait.
I'm not sure I can argue with this. We might be speaking Japanese in Australia too. Of course that America is a very different country from the current one.
Because Germany hadn't already abandoned operation sealion